“The riddle”, from Nik Kershaw to Gigi D’Agostino in Sanremo

Among versions by singer-songwriters, Sanremo classics, unlikely duets, in the evening of covers of the Sanremo Festival there are those who have chosen to dust off a classic from the 80s: Raf will bring “The Riddle” by Nik Kershaw with the Kolors. It came out in ’84, the same year as his “Self Control” – and both became mega-hits.
If the title tells you little, the moment you hear the melody a light bulb will immediately go on in your mind, whether you grew up in that period or are younger musically: the song also had enormous success in the 90s/Zero due to a successful dance version by Gigi D’Agostino which still does numbers today (almost 400 million streams/views between YouTube and Spotify). Kershaw’s original version also periodically resurfaces on social media.
Kershaw was a star in the 1980s, producing several classics starting with the first single “Wouldn’t It Be Good?” – so much so that he came to play at Live Aid, and then stopped for some time in the 90s. Today he divides his time between events linked to that period (he came to Italy for several TV programs) and new music. We reached him on the phone: he tells us that he knows Sanremo (“A great festival, even if it’s not really clear to me how it works”, he says) and Raf. We were told about “The Riddle”, a song with mysterious lyrics, but not only that.

“The Riddle” has a rather strange story.

It all stems from the fact that I had very little time to write my second album. The first one was released in March 1984, it was a success, I was still promoting it when the record company said to me: “Do you think we can release something for Christmas?”. And for some reason I didn’t say no.
Crazy thing. I basically had about two weeks, I already had seven or eight songs, but my producer said to me: “I don’t hear the single”. I was listening to a lot of traditional Irish music at the time, I had that Celtic sound in my head when I started writing the music for “The Riddle”.

The text is also striking, as it is difficult to decipher. Does it make sense?

The melody came very quickly and easily, even the chords didn’t take long. It always takes me a long time to write the lyrics, so I just made a vocal guide, with any words, just to set the rhymes and structure. Those were meaningless words, because we were going into the studio the following week. We go to the studio, I record these meaningless words and we start building the song: drums, bass. Then I try to actually rewrite the text, but everything I came up with didn’t work. We had become so used to the words and their sound in the song, the way they fit together, that in the end we decided not to change them and to keep that nonsense.

So “The Riddle”, the enigma, is the song itself?

Exactly. At first it was just called “Untitled”, it didn’t have a title, and I had to find one. I thought: what do I call her? “Near a Tree by a River”? Or “The Hole in the Ground”? Then I thought: no, I’ll call it “The Riddle” so people will think it’s about something. And indeed it happened.

Speaking of Irish references: in the lyrics you mention “The Man of Aran”, which is a classic film of early cinema.

Yes, I wanted them to be words that recalled that world because, as I said, at that time I was listening to a lot of traditional Irish music.

When the cover of “The Riddle” was announced in Sanremo, many immediately thought of Gigi D’Agostino’s version, the dance one.

That was one of the first dance versions of the song. Since then there have been many who have done similar things, but D’Agostino was the first.

Were you involved in any way? I imagine that since it was a rework, you had to approve it.

Yes, it is not an exact copy of the song: if it is modified in any way, I have to give my permission for it to be used. And so I did.

Do you like that kind of sound?

I think they are two completely different things. Gigi’s version was very different from how I would have ever imagined the song, and it was nice to hear it that way. Then came many other versions that do more or less the same thing, or try. And at a certain point… yes, you get a little tired. But if people want to play with my songs, I’m fine with that. I don’t really own them anymore, they’re no longer mine: they’re like children, you let them go.

In 1985 you were called to Live Aid, where you also played “The Riddle”. What was it like playing in what was the biggest musical event of the time?

Pretty scary, actually. I hadn’t been on the Band Aid single, but Bob Geldof asked me to play and, from the way he pitched it to me, it was just going to be some kind of charity gig in London, probably at the Hammersmith Odeon.
But then it grew more and more: first Wembley, then… two billion people in front of the television. The closer the date got, the more nervous I became. It was overwhelming, because I wasn’t used to playing in front of an audience like that. I was definitely out of my comfort zone, but I think I pulled through.

The 80s are associated with keyboards, synth pop. But your music, and “The Riddle” in particular, has a lot of guitars, it has a rock sound.

Well, because I was a guitarist: that was my instrument. I had played for several years, three or four, in an evening band, doing a bit of everything, but as a guitarist. And to this day I don’t really know how to play keyboards: I can’t sit at the piano and play you a melody. At that time, however, with all the new technologies and exciting sounds of keyboards, guitars had a more supporting role, almost a little viewed with suspicion. For me the most natural thing was to put the guitar in a song.

How does it feel to still be associated with the music of the 80s? It was a very important period for you, but forty years have passed and you have done many things since…

I think I’ve gone through the same journey as many artists: you don’t want to be defined for your whole life by such a short period, but in a way I am, and I understand that. The exposure and notoriety I had back then makes many people associate me with those songs. There’s a phase where you feel a little bad about it, especially when you’re making new music and you’d like people to listen to it, which you’re very proud of. But then you grow up, you become a little wiser, and you understand how important those songs were to you. You accept them, and it’s no longer a problem. I love sharing them with the public – they’re a beautiful thing to have.

What is your favorite song from your repertoire? Is it “The Riddle” or something else?

I would say that among the older songs and hits, it’s probably “Wouldn’t It Be Good?”. It was my first big hit. And it’s the only song that, playing it live over the years, I’ve never felt the need to change. There’s a period when you get tired of the songs and start modifying them, changing the arrangements and instrumentation. With “Wouldn’t It Be Good?” I’ve never done it. It’s always a very strong emotion to play those first initial chords. It still gives me an adrenaline rush.